by Robert Fudge

Psalms 18:1-6 (introduction as added in NIV, not a part of David’s Psalm)

David the servant of the LORD. He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called to the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.

Some of you will remember that the young man David came into prominence in Israel when he killed the arch enemy Goliath, the Philistine. After several other events in his life he continued to grow in popularity. King Saul began to be jealous and finally to the point that he ordered David to be killed. After several attempts on David’s life had failed, Saul began to hunt him with his army as a man would hunt an animal. David resorted to living in caves and outdoors as he fled the wrath of the king.

Probably none of us has been relegated to living outdoors while being the victim of someone’s hunt for our life. However, some of us have been faced with the real prospect (and even high probability) of death. Others have faced the death of the one person we loved the most in this life. Others have faced situations where we considered death as a welcome alternative to the other choices we could see at the time. The point is that David (and each of us) has times when we are at “rock bottom.” We like David can turn to God and know that He will hear us as He heard David in this Psalm.

I love you, O LORD, my strength. When we just “can’t go on,” He is our strength. There have been times in my life that I prayed for relief from some stress for hours. I did not know what to do, where to turn, what to say, how to act, anyone that I could talk to about it to get real answers. As the song says: “where could I go but to the Lord?” It is after these storms of life subside that we realize that God really is there and He really has been giving me the strength that I did not have in myself. I love you, O LORD, my strength.

How wonderful it is to know that we serve a God who loves us and hears us when we call to Him for strength. The more we allow His Spirit to work in us and through us, the more we know His strength in our lives. Too often we do not serve Him and only pray as a last resort and then wonder why He is not there for us. Notice that David begins this Psalm by saying that he loves the Lord. I must ask myself today, do I really love the Lord? If so, it will show in my life toward Him and toward others. Jesus said, "if you love me, you will keep my commandments." May God bless you with His strength as you do His will.